Astrid
by Endeavor Network
Summary: Hiccup needs to say something to the girl he loves... [Pre-HTTYD 2]
1. Chapter 1

**I am forever forgetting to put the disclaimer. :C**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any original content from _How to Train Your Dragon_ or its spin-offs. I only own this storyline.**

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 **Chapter 1**

Hiccup paced anxiously around the saddlery, pinching his fingers and muttering to himself. He had been walking up and down and periodically sitting for about ten minutes, as the five terrible terrors who lived in the armory watched curiously from the rafters. Eventually, he stopped pacing, walked to a window, and peered out. He quickly turned and sat down on a gronkle saddle. Several seconds later, Astrid came in.

"Hey, Hiccup," she said, "What's up?"

"Uh, hey, Astrid…How are you?" he murmured, adjusting himself on his seat.

"Good," she answered, raising an eyebrow as she sat across from him on a nadder saddle, "Y'know, you already asked me that earlier."

"Oh, well, just checking…"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Alright. What's killing you?"

"Um…well, uh…"

He clenched his hands together and looked up at her.

 _" _No. Be a man. Get it out."__

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he opened them, set his jaw, and reached out. His gaze firmly met hers as he cupped her hands in his.

"Astrid…" he began.

"Yes?" she said softly as she stared worriedly at him.

He broke eye contact momentarily as he took another deep breath.

"Astrid, there's something that I need to say to you. That I haven't said…because I was…scared to say it."

Astrid leaned forward.

"But, I think," he continued, "That it's time to say it now…"

He paused again, looking down. When he looked back up, he could have owned her eyes.

"Astrid, you know I love you…" he half-asked, as if he was requesting permission to continue.

She nodded. He had her permission. Every fiber of her being gave him permission.

Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he sucked in his lips and said, "Astrid…"

She held her breath.

"Astrid…

 _Idon'tlikeyaknog!_ "

He bit his lip. She stared at him, then blinked rapidly and leaned back, her hands still in his.

"Um…" she murmured.

Hiccup continued gnawing on his lip and stared at her anxiously.

"Um…" she murmured again as her brow and mouth twitched.

"Astrid?" he asked sheepishly, gently squeezing her hands, "Are you mad at me?"

She blinked again, frowning, and shook her head.

"No…..So…you don't like yaknog?"

Hiccup slowly shook his head.

"I thought you said you liked it…"

He bit his lip again.

"So, you lied?"

"Well, when you made it the first time, you were just trying to cheer everyone up. And, then, after that, you already thought I liked it…I mean, I never actually _said_ that I _did_ _…_ "

He quickly moved on.

"I just didn't wanna keep making you think that I did."

"You mean, you didn't wanna keep _lying_ to me?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well….. _ugh_ , yes. But, it's because of you. I didn't wanna lie to you anymore. The reason I didn't tell you in the first place was because I didn't wanna hurt your feelings…And, everyone else was being kind of mean about it, honestly-"

"Well," she said curtly and inhaled as she pulled her hands away, "I appreciate you finally being honest with me. Now I don't have to waste my time making it for you anymore."

She stood up.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

She turned to walk out, but paused and looked down at him.

"So, all those years I was making it for you, did you just throw it away?"

"Well, actually," Hiccup replied with a sheepish smile, "Toothless really likes the stuff."

" _Ugh_ ," she scoffed before marching out the saddlery.

Hiccup sighed and slumped his shoulders.

" _Well, at least my conscience is clear,"_ he thought.

The terrible terrors leapt down onto the saddle next to him and croaked, cocking their heads.

He cast them a sideways glance and asked reprovingly, "What're you lookin' at?"


	2. Chapter 2

**I remembered this time! :)**

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own any original content from **_**How to Train Your Dragon** _ **or its spin-offs. I only own this storyline.**_

 **I know this chapter is a lot longer than the last one, but a chapter is a chapter! Please enjoy!**

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 **Chapter 2**

Astrid went straight home. Stormfly, who was sitting in front of the house, stood up and chirped to greet her.

"Hey, Stormfly," Astrid sighed as she patted her head.

She ran up to her room, put on her leather work boots, grabbed her hood, said bye to her parents downstairs, and headed off to her Aunt Rowena's farm with Stormfly. Her aunt had sailed away again – as she did every several years – to pay tribute to Odin at the edge of Midgard. By Mrs. Hofferson's prediction, she would be back from this latest attempt in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, her daughter Rowenna was responsible for the farm. Unfortunately, Rowenna wasn't really one for toil, and her mother had a _huge_ radish crop. She insisted that the work was too much for her alone and begged the Hoffersons for Astrid's help during the harvest. They reluctantly agreed – Mr. Hofferson wanted her out of their hair -, so, for the second day, Astrid trudged uphill through the grey mist to her aunt's farm.

As she came up the path, Rowenna appeared in the doorway of the house.

"Hello, cousin," she called.

"Hello, cousin," answered Astrid as she reached the top of the incline.

"Would you mind bringing my tools for me, too?" asked Rowenna, pointing in the direction of the shed.

"Sure," Astrid said, but glared after Rowenna looked away.

As she walked off, she heard Rowenna say sweetly, "Hi, Stormfly!"

Astrid was disgusted. She wanted to yak. If Rowenna wasn't six years older than her, she would definitely have taught her a lesson by now.

" _Lazy half-troll. Tryn'a boss me around. Acting all_ nice _to my dragon. Makes me_ sick. _And_ Hiccup, _being a total_ munge bucket… _Ugh _, I'm so__ done _with today."_

She grabbed two large buckets and spades and brought them back.

"So," Astrid began as she handed Rowenna her tools, "Are you gonna help me in the field today?"

"'Course I am. I did yesterday, didn't I?"

"Yeah, a little. But I mean, are you going to _stay_ with me today?"

Rowenna raised her eyebrows in an innocently quizzical way.

"Astrid, you know I have to sort through them."

" _Yeah_ , but can't you do that, like, _tonight_ , or something?"

"Astrid, we've been through this. If we just pile them up in the back, then there'll be too many to sort in one evening, and then the boars will come for them. Now, unless you want me to fight off a whole pack of boars by myself, then I suggest we just do what we did yesterday."

"Well, why don't we do shifts, then? I pull, you sort; you pull, I sort."

"Astrid," Rowenna said, putting her hands on her hips, "You know my mom is very particular. I have to be the one to go through them. I'm sorry, but it's the only way this can work. Now, stop arguing with me, and let's get going."

She turned and walked toward the field, which was right beside the house, leaving Astrid glaring hatefully at her back. Stormfly croaked empathetically and nudged her. Astrid smiled and rubbed her head.

"Thanks, girl," she whispered, "I'll try to keep it together."

Rowenna helped Astrid pull up radishes until the wheelbarrow was full, then she took it around the back of the house to a trough of water, dumped out the contents, and wheeled it back for Astrid to fill again. For an hour straight, Astrid was bent over, pulling and digging up radishes, filling the buckets, and emptying them in the wheelbarrow, which she pushed to Rowenna behind the house. Her only comfort was that if she saw Rowenna for a brief moment every fifteen minutes, then she only had to resist the urge to punch her four times an hour.

After coming back from emptying the fourth barrow-full, she leaned against the fence to take a breather. Her back was sore. Stormfly came around and sat behind her on the other side of the fence. After a couple minutes, Stormfly suddenly stood, screeched excitedly, and walked toward the path.

"What is it, girl?" Astrid asked, standing up straight.

But Stormfly just turned, chirped at her, and ran down the slope. Astrid frowned curiously. Now, Stormfly was out of sight, but she heard another, louder chirp, which was followed by a cheerful, rumbling growl.

She immediately knew who it was. Her initial reaction was pleasure, but she quickly swallowed it with annoyance. Stormfly and Toothless bounded up the hill, followed by Hiccup, who waved at her. She waved back, but then crossed her arms and leaned back against the fence. He'd probably brought Toothless so there'd be a witness.

Hiccup slowly approached the fence and leaned against it, resting his crossed arms on the top rail.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

He looked over the field. She'd done about one-fourth of it.

"Busy?"

"Very."

"Do you need some help?"

She thought about it. He was obviously looking to pay penance, and she'd been working her butt off.

"Sure," she said, "Take this – "

She handed him a bucket and spade.

" – and go over there."

She pointed to the far end of the field.

"Ok," he mumbled as he came in through the little gate.

Really, she was glad that he came. The work went exponentially faster. She sent him to go dump out the wheelbarrow once – a mistake she didn't make again after he was late coming back, and she went around to check, only to find Rowenna making some stupid attempt to flirt with him. After that, she emptied the wheelbarrow herself, although it was more dangerous for both Rowenna and her.

By sundown, when the harvest was a little more than halfway done, Rowenna finally stopped them, declaring, "Honestly, you've given me so much radishes, I don't know if I'll be able to get through them all before the sun goes down! Hiccup, don't be surprised if I wake up your father tonight because I'm being attacked by boars."

"Just put them inside," Astrid said sharply, "C'mon, Hiccup."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

"Thanks, Astrid!" Rowenna called, "Thanks so much, Hiccup! Bye, Toothless, Stormfly!"

Astrid loosened her grip on Hiccup's hand as they reached the path, but she didn't let go of it.

"I can't _stand_ her!" she grumbled.

Hiccup shrugged.

"Yeah. Family. What're you gonna do?"

They trudged along in silence for a minute before Astrid muttered quickly, "Thanks."

"Anytime."

Another minute passed, then she asked slowly, " _Soo_ …How bad does yaknog taste to you?"

He glanced at her with wide eyes.

"Uh…I don't like it…"

"I know you don't like it. But _how bad_ do you not like it?"

"Well…I don't like it…at all."

She sighed.

"Ok. Let me ask you a 'yes' or 'no' question. All those times I've given you yaknog, was I essentially torturing you?"

Hiccup was silent for several moments.

"Essentially?…Yes."

She punched him.

" _OW!_ " he yelled as he jumped four feet away from her, clutching his arm, " _Gods_ , Astrid! I thought you wanted me to be honest!"

"I want you to be _honest_ , not _blunt!_ "

" _You_ asked _me_ the question!"

"Well, yeah. But I thought you would, like, _moderate_ it or something…"

" _Ugh_ ," he grunted as he rubbed his arm, "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you."

She frowned as she watched him grimace. Then, sighing, she reached out and rubbed it too.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Yeah," he grumbled back.

They started walking again.

"Hey, Toothless," she called, looking over her shoulder at him, "You're in luck! Hiccup doesn't want the yaknog anymore (or, rather, he's _admitting_ that he doesn't), so you get all of it to yourself!"

Toothless, who was several feet behind them with Stormfly, crooned enthusiastically.

"So, you're gonna keep making it?" Hiccup asked.

"Sure, why not? Just 'cause you suck doesn't mean your dragon has to suffer."

He laughed.

"Y'know, Hiccup," Astrid began shrewdly, "In the saddlery, when you were talking, before you said what it was actually about, I thought you were going to say something completely different."

"Oh, yeah? What'd you think I was gonna say?"

"I thought you were going to ask me to marry you."

Hiccup froze. He looked at her, then away, opening his mouth and closing it.

"Uh…" he said.

She giggled.

"It's ok," she said, grinning, "We'll never speak of it again."

Hiccup still seemed to be having some difficulty, though. He looked like he was trying to work something out, but Astrid laughed again, shaking her head and dragging him into the village.

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 _ **THE END**_

 **If you're going to review, please feel free to point out any (even trivial) spelling or grammatical errors. Thank you!**

 **\- EN**


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